Prelude to Power: The Parisian Radical Press, 1789-1791

Abstract

Percentage of Total Number of Papers 21 33 15 10 10 2 3 6 100It is true that the majority of these papers in the period from 1789 to 1791 enjoyed, at best, brief existence.Without including those 107 that appeared only a single time, 250 others perished within three months.Nonetheless, in Paris (a city of 600,000 people) there were still 52 papers that continued from four to six months, and 53 that lasted from seven to twelve months.Fifty-three other newspapers continued from at least one year to the entire twenty-nine-month period under consideration here.To gain a more accurate understanding of the magnitude of the press explosion, one should check on a monthly basis the number of papers published in Paris.Figure 1.1 indicates by month how many papers were published in Paris and their frequency.In general, the graph shows a steady increase in the number of papers published during 1789-91, and this corresponded to a steady proliferation of political groups and interests.Some nuances are, however, worthy of mention.The most rapid acceleration in newspaper production between 1789 and 1791 occurred after July 1789 and was, no doubt, the result of the increased politicization and freedom issuing from Bastille Day.The second sharp rise, during the first half of 1791, was, most probably, caused by the growing political activity in Paris.By early 1791, the differences between the revolutionaries and the king were explicit and hotly contested, and the increase in journals reflected both a rising popular interest in daily news and national politics and a growing number of people who wanted to publicize their own opinions.Finally, the relative decline of the press in the last three months of the National Assembly was surely related to the repression of various journals, of both pro-and counter-revolutionary persuasions, following the massacre at the Champ de Mars in July 1791.The authorities shut down some newspa pers, while fear of repression made publishing unappealing for others.The freedom that all journalists had enjoyed was beginning to diminish.'-•-.-,-••"•"' I \ '-./"'"""'., . .

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